Five Ways Superboy Is Like Superman
by Takebuo Ishimatsu
Summary: What it says on the tin, boys and girls. All from Batman's POV. Written for a prompt in yj anon meme. Light Batman/Superman.


**Title: **Five Ways Superboy Is Like Superman  
**Author: **Takebuo Ishimatsu  
**Pairing(s): **Light Batman/Superman  
**Summary: **What it says on the tin, boys and girls. All from Batman's POV. Written for a prompt in yj_anon_meme. Light Batman/Superman.

**Disclaimer: **Ido not own Young Justice.

**The Prompt:**

_**Five ways Superboy does take after Superman, things SB doesn't know about about other people notice. **_

**One: **

No matter what he tried to tell himself about the clone's similar taste buds or the possible genetics involved in what Kyrptonians ate and didn't eat. (Something he'd been meaning to look into for some time, but never seemed to have a spare moment to study something that had no real usefulness other than fulfilling his insatiable curiosity.)

Despite what the overpoweringly large part of Bruce's logical mind told him, he just couldn't help but find the clone's choice of meal both fascinating and worrying.

It was just so..._identical_, down to the very last detail. From the mashed potatoes, with the two thin slices of butter and a gentle sprinkling of pepper, to the glass of Cherry Vanilla Coke, filled only half-way since the taste became too overwhelming when compared with the rest of the solid meal.

Bruce paused to wonder who had even introduced the beverage to the, then, nineteen-week old boy. West, he imagined. He'd taught Dick from a young age to prefer unsweetened tea.

The boy shifted uncomfortably as he finally noticed him observing from across the table. (How Bruce had allowed Dick to convince him that eating with the young heroes was a good idea, was something he'd have to look into.)

"What?" the clone demanded finally, when it appeared that Batman wasn't going to look away.

He _never_ looked away. Especially from a meta.

It was a psychology thing.

"You eat like Superman," he said after a moment's consideration.

The boy looked both pleased and annoyed at the proclamation, just as he'd suspected he would. He wanted Clark's approval far too much to be healthy.

He'd have to break him of it soon, but for the moment he was content to simply sit back and observe.

The clone sprinkled a dash of salt onto everything on his plate, a habit which he'd only ever heard of Clark having and something only Superman's system could take as being vaguely healthy.

Fascinating.

**Two: **

Unsurprisingly, the boy fought the same as well. Not necessarily something he'd gotten from Superman, Bruce noted. Most super-strengthed metas did the same things when in battle.

They hit anything they could get their hands on with as much strength as they could manage and hoped that would be enough to cover their complete lack of actual fighting skill.

All brawn and minimal brain.

Bruce raised an eyebrow behind his mask as the clone managed to make another hole in the wall where Kid Flash had been a moment before. He wondered how long until he realized that he just wasn't going to be able to catch the speedster without Clark's powers of super-speed and that he needed a new strategy.

...Actually, Bruce doubted that he _would_ realize it. He was too new to the world, let alone battle, to understand that even Superman had to use his brain every once in a while. Instead, he wondered how long until the boy simply gave up for the day.

Estimated time until the clone started to form an actual _style_: three weeks.

The boy let out a frustrated groan as yet another hole was made.

Make that four weeks.

**Three: **

Perhaps the most disturbing similarity he'd noticed was Superboy's tendency towards possessiveness.

It was a trait that Clark hid well. So well, that most people would never believe Superman suffered from any sort of negative personality trait. (Unless you were Batman and found his idiotic Boy Scout routine to be a little too much at times. But that was a different story entirely.)

Bruce concluded that part of the trait's subtlety came from the simple fact that Clark didn't feel the need to show it often. In fact, if Bruce hadn't allowed himself that brief moment of weakness those many years ago, giving in to the Man of Steel's desire for friendship (and then, eventually, something more), even he might never have caught it.

Superboy wasn't nearly as picky, and his character faults came through clearly even to those that knew nothing of him. While Clark managed to reel in his possessive ("protective," as the Man of Steel liked to lie to himself) tendencies to just those that he cared for, the clone hadn't had enough social interaction to know when he could acceptably claim something as his, when he couldn't, and when he didn't need to.

As evidence: no one doubted the fact that his room was his and so there was no need for the other to scowl at anyone that came to see him uninvited. No one was trying to steal his space, but Bruce doubted the clone realized that.

Likewise, the clone didn't understand personal boundaries, and felt there was nothing wrong with proclaiming his teammates as being "his" when the Justice League had come for a visit. Even Red Tornado had commented when he'd sat himself right between Kid Flash and Robin, a scowl forming on his face, directed towards the children's mentors. For someone that got so angry whenever anyone called him an "it," he had quite a tendency to treat his friends as possessions.

Bruce, in a move surprising even his closest comrades, had simply shrugged when Superboy had demanded to know when he was bringing Robin back to him.

Oh, he hadn't liked it, that was certain, but he'd thought he'd understood the underlying cause.

He'd already spent enough frustrated energy trying to get Clark to understand that his "Bruce Wayne, Billionaire Playboy" persona was just that: a persona. He'd been lucky that first time when Superman had randomly burst into his room while he'd been doing a private interview with Lois Lane.

If it'd been anyone else, _anyone_ but one of the few people on earth that knew of their alternate lives, he might have had some serious explaining to do.

As it was, he'd had to tone down his antics considerably since then, and it wasn't even because Clark believed him to be sleeping with the women he flirted with. Or that he was even truly jealous, in the textbook definition of the word.

After several serious discussions, followed by numerous cold shoulders, the World's Greatest Detective had broken it all down to one simple fact: Superman thought he _belonged_ to him. (Something he'd only grudgingly accepted when the alien had pointed out he was no better.)

And, in turn, Superboy thought Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Miss Martian, and, to some extent, even Red Tornado and Black Canary belonged to him.

Bruce was beginning to wonder if it was some sort of Kryptonian genetic defect.

He'd look into it.

**Four: **

He'd been wrong, something he rarely admitted even to himself.

The most disturbing similarity wasn't the boy's possessive streak, but rather his shared interest in people. Particularly men.

Specifically _him_.

Even after two weeks, Bruce still winced at the thought.

He'd almost shrugged off the clone's extra attention whenever he came into the room as a lack of a parental figure. (A position that would have been disturbing enough to fulfill. One hyperactive boy swinging from the chandeliers was enough for him.)

However, as time had gone on, he'd started to notice just _how_ the boy was looking at him, something which he may or may not have purposefully put out of his mind until it'd become too obvious for his detective mindset to ignore.

As far as he could tell, no one else noticed but that didn't stop Bruce from groaning internally whenever identical blue eyes were turned on him with an identical sexual intent hidden behind their depths. Bruce wasn't entirely certain the boy even understood what it was he wanted from his boss, as evidenced by several faltering conversations that the clone had started, only to stop when he realized he didn't know what to say.

"Is Batman coming over this week?" Superboy asked, turning towards Robin.

His adopted son gave him an odd look. "Yeah, he'll be here tomorrow to go over some more moves with me."

Shyly, the clone mumbled, "Do you think I could join you guys?"

"Uh..."

Bruce tuned them out as he leaned back in his chair, rubbing a hand over his tired eyes. The recorder was always going if he needed to see the end of the conversation.

An unusual feeling of shame briefly came over him as he made the decision to finally put his plan into action. As wrong as it felt to manipulate two young men from behind the scenes, he knew it'd be worse if he allowed the boy's puppy-love crush to blossom into anything more. And he was hardly going to risk him turning his attentions to Dick.

He'd set the cameras in the clone's room to archive-only tomorrow.

He hardly needed to know if he "made love" (as the sentimental Boy Scout would put it) the same way as Clark.

The brief glimpse of masturbation had traumatized him enough already.

**Five: **

The most annoying likeness he'd discovered, and the one he found most troublesome, was the boy's ability to pout, sulk, and generally give off the aura of a large, super-powered kicked puppy.

Normally such things had no affect on him, and he usually found them annoying rather than "cute." He did have a reputation as being cold, unfeeling, and sometimes flat-out hateful for a _reason_.

But the boy looked like a young Clark, and even his analytical mind couldn't quite push out the the feeling that Clark's pouts invoked.

It was something he was working on.

So, when the clone made that disappointed face for the second time that day alone, he felt something in the general area of his heart twitch.

"I'm sure Superman's just busy," Aqualad whispered, subtly giving the Dark Knight a Look over the top of the brunette's head, which was currently resting on his shoulder.

Right. Like it was his fault that the living Kitten-Rescue-Machine didn't have the balls to stand face-to-face with his own clone.

He shot a dark look at Dick, who quickly glanced away. The boy was going to be doing push-ups until sunrise as punishment for letting it slip that he was "friends with benefits" with Superman.

Still, Bruce kicked himself for not having foreseen the consequences of shifting the boy's attentions away from himself. He _should_ have known that taking away both the boy's parental figure and potential love interest in one fell swoop and only replacing one of them would leave an opening that the clone's pining for Superman would inadvertently refill.

He would have to do more mental exercises to make sure he didn't slip up in the future. Missing a potential outcome when dealing with the Joker could get both him and Dick killed.

Now, since Bruce was hardly willing to take Clark's place, and few others would do, he knew he'd have to finally take the time to convince the man to stop pussy-footing around and take responsibility for his unintended DNA donation.

Bruce sighed internally.

When had his desire to have everything around him flowing smoothly turned him into a social worker?

**AN: **Wow! It's sooooo hard to write comedy from Batman's perspective & still make it somewhat in character! And, I'm still not even certain if this is quite what the prompter wanted...-_-0

Let me know what you think! Criticism & pointing out of mistakes is welcome!

P.S. I'm planning on doing a Five Times Batman & Robin through Superman's POV. Stay tuned!


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